Question about when to do it. So I still have my galvanized cold water lines. I've replaced the hot with PEX, but now need to tackle the cold. Question I have is how high my water pressure is, so that when I do replace it will I need to install a reducer or regulator as well.
So I need to measure my water pressure - question is, would it be better to measure it AFTER I replace the corroded and mucked up galvanized or will it matter? The flow rate will increase for certain, and I would surmise that the pressure will as well but that's just a guess on my part. There are rumors in my neighborhood that the water pressure is about 75 psi, fluctuating radically depending on time of day. Hence my interest in measuring it.
Flow and pressure are different things. Static pressure can be measured at any time. It is either there, or it is not. If you open a valve and you have low flow, the pressure may show a drop at the point of delivery because the pipe cannot be filled fast enough. While it may be nice to know what that number is, it does not tell you what pressure you will be seing.
Put the gauge in now and you can monitor fluctuations in your house if the town is causing them. .
So if I read you right, install the gauge even though the numbers won't be accurate because they'll show a trend. Just for level set here, we are referring to an inline pressure guage, not a faucet gauge as I have seen on inspections (yes/no)?
Yeah, unless you're renting the gauge by the day, install it now.
This is off the top of my head, but it seems to me, If you're interested in how much replacing the corroded helps water flow, you should also do some water flow measurements before you replace the oold pipe. Put a bucket oin the bathtube and measure how long it takes to fill when the cold faucet is wide open. And when only the hot is wide open. When you get the old pipes out, you can look inside and see how corroded they are and you can compare that with how much the flow increases. At least you'll learn something.
I was going to suggest putting in the pressure gauge in a place say half way through your house's pipes. (when the clogged pipes are still in place) So that if it is 40 feet of pipe from where the water comes into the house to the farthest bathroom, if you put the pressure gauge near the 20 foot location, then you could measure the pressure when no water was running, and again when say, the sink or bathtub faucet is running at maximum, I think in the first case you will see the static pressure, and in the second you'll see reduced pressure caused by the pressure drop through the first 20 feet of pipe. That would be very interesting too.
My pipes are copper, I doubt even the main is clogged after only 30 years, but there is a big difference in the time the toilet in the powder room takes to fill, from the other toilets. The powder room is right above the main cold water pipe, 20 feet from the entry in the foundation, and maybe 40 feet closer than the other bathrooms. It fills twice as fast, or quicker. All very interesting.
Just get a guage that goes to 100, and adapt it to a garden hose female adaptor. Screw it on your hose hydrant and open the valve. Static pressure won't change with new pipes.
They will be accurate for static pressure. No matter how bad the pipes are clogged, the gauge will give an accurate reading of the pressure coming into the house. That is the reading you are concerned about. It can be in line, it can be on a faucet.
If water is running, you will see some drop. If the pipes are clogged, you will see a greater drop as you open the valve more.
If you are not running water, and you see the needle bounce around, that means the town water pressure is fluctuating. A few pounds is normal. If you see 20 pound pressure drops, the town has a problem.
Well I do live in the middle of the county and the evil land developers did put up about 5,000 McMansions around me. I'm sure all those people are happily using up more water than the county ever expected - what is it up to now, 12 houses per acre, each 6,000 sq ft with 4 bathrooms and 2 kitchens? At least they won't be wasting it on grass, because they couldn't possibly have any living organisms in that postage stamp they call a lot.
Actually you shouldn't even have to buy an adapter.
At HD and Lowes, if you look in the section where they have the lawn sprinkler system parts, they should have gauges that already have the adapters on them. Just screw it onto the hose spout, turn on the water, and take your reading.
If his house happens to have an anti-backflow check valve in the incoming water line and it's working, he'll only see peak pressure doing it that way and won't notice any drops if they occur.
Could get around that by cracking a faucet open a little bit I suppose.
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